Description:Peter Parker (Tobey
Maguire) gives up his crime-fighting identity of Spider-Man in
a desperate attempt to return to ordinary life and keep the
love of MJ (Kirsten Dunst). But a ruthless, terrifying new
villain, the multi-tentacled Doc Ock, forces Peter to swing
back into action to save everything he holds
dear.

Amazon.com:More than a few
critics hailed Spider-Man 2 as "the best superhero
movie ever," and there's no compelling reason to argue--thanks
to a bigger budget, better special effects, and a dynamic,
character-driven plot, it's a notch above Spider-Man in
terms of emotional depth and rich comic-book sensibility.
Ordinary People Oscar-winner Alvin Sargent received
screenplay credit, and celebrated author and comic-book expert
Michael Chabon worked on the story, but it's director Sam
Raimi's affinity for the material that brings Spidey 2
to vivid life. When a fusion experiment goes terribly wrong, a
brilliant physicist (Alfred Molina) is turned into Spidey's
newest nemesis, the deranged, mechanically tentacled "Doctor
Octopus," obsessed with completing his experiment and killing
Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) in the process. Even more
compelling is Peter Parker's urgent dilemma: continue his
burdensome, lonely life of crime-fighting as Spider-Man, or
pursue love and happiness with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten
Dunst)? Molina's outstanding as a tragic villain controlled by
his own invention, and the action sequences are nothing less
than breathtaking, but the real success of Spider-Man 2
is its sense of priorities. With all of Hollywood's biggest
and best toys at his disposal, Raimi and his writers stay true
to the Marvel mythology, honoring Spider-Man creators
Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and setting the bar impressively
high for the challenge of Spider-Man 3. --Jeff
Shannon

DVD Features:

The
first commentary track is by director Sam Raimi and a
self-deprecating Tobey Maguire speaking in tandem, and
producer (and Marvel CEO) Avi Arad and coproducer Grant Curtis
speaking in tandem. They discuss a number of topics, including
Raimi's memory of his excitement over Richard Donner's
Superman and how the character of Black Cat had to be dropped
from the film. The second commentary is by six members of the
Oscar-nominated effects team, and one of their primary focuses
is how Doc Ock's arms were achieved by a combination of
puppetry and CGI.

The centerpiece of the
second disc is a massive two-hour documentary that can be
viewed all at once or in 12 separate pieces. It covers the
development of the story, the visual effects, costumes,
stunts, and sound and music. Three shorter featurettes cover
Peter Parker's struggle between his personal and hero lives,
Doc Ock, and the women in Spider-Man's life, and what's
interesting is how they discuss those topics not just in
relation to the movies but to the comic books as well. (For
example, Betty Brant and Gwen Stacy had a much greater impact
in the comics.) There's a scene in which you can toggle among
three different camera angles, and a gallery of 17 paintings
Alex Ross created for the opening sequence. The sound and
picture are spectacular, though only the Superbit edition has
DTS. --David Horiuchi